If an Internet user does not know your URL, or if a user is unable to guess your URL, they will use a search engine to find you.

Like Kleenex (for tissue or FedEx for overnight delivery), Google has achieved dominance in such a short period of time and the company's name has come to mean Internet searching.

So, an Internet user is more likely to use Google, which is the most widely used search engine, to find you. In the US, Google is also the biggest referrer of Internet users to websites.

Other prominent uses of Google include singles "googling" dates before committing to a meal and job applicants "google" a company, its founders, and anything interesting, prior to an interview.

There are several search engines including AltaVista, Bing, Google, and Yahoo however at the moment, Google owns the Internet, so if you want your online business to thrive, you need to learn how to be #1 on Google ... however it will take some time and it is not easy.

Rather than instant gratification, Google wants a long-term relationship. If you commit seriously to Google, it will commit back.

Since Google is fed up with people abusing the system, there is no official guide from Google to explain how to win its favor. There is no checklist on its site nor are there FAQ pages.

It takes a lot of trial and error, experimenting, and reading what others are doing, in order to have a Google friendly site where search engine optimization generates high Page Rankings. This is why it takes time and is not easy.

One of the first tips or thing you can do is to determine where you stand at this time. When you type in your domain name, or the name of your product or industry, look at what is served up on the pages by the search engine?

Are you listed on the first 3 pages? Are you listed at the top of any of the first 3 pages?

As a result of performing the activity in this tip, you can obtain an understanding of what the search engines think of your site and your Page Ranking based on where, or if, you are served up in the top 3 pages of a Google search for your domain name or product. Most likely, you will want to improve your Page Ranking.